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SIBELIUS 3: A GIANT STEP
Press Release
2003-10-01

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Sibelius Software Ltd., one of the world’s leading music software companies, announced today the release of what will prove its most significant leap forward, Sibelius 3.0. The software, which contains more than 170 new features and over 30 additional plug-ins, will be available in October.

One of the most innovative enhancements to 3.0 is the inclusion of the Kontakt Player Silver, a joint effort between Sibelius Software London and leading software synthesis company Native Instruments. The Kontakt Player Silver enables users to play back music using high-quality instrumental samples, burn compositions to CD, and create audio files for posting on the Internet. It contains 20 instrumental sounds – a useful selection of brass, woodwind, strings, percussion, voices and a Bösendorfer piano. Kontakt Player Gold, which may be purchased separately, has 64 instrumental and 100 percussion sounds, including a wide range of useful orchestral and band instruments.

“Sibelius 3 represents a dramatic advance for the writing of music,“ states Ben Finn, Founder and Director of Sibelius Software. “New features across the spectrum will appeal to all types of musicians, from professional composers to students.” Sibelius 3 is even easier and faster to use. In addition to many new features directed toward arrangers, composers and engravers, an array of functions geared toward the educational market have been well thought out.

“The exciting Kontakt Player collaboration with Native Instruments enables musicians to extend the way they can hear and share music,” adds Jeremy Silver, CEO Sibelius Software. “We expect this to be extremely popular with our current users, and to appeal to new customers who want to combine easy-to-use software with great audio capabilities.”

The look and feel of Sibelius 3 has been further improved with a fresh interface and a new smoothness setting for extra display clarity and enhanced zooming and navigation. Focus on Staves aids navigation and editing of scores when writing for large ensembles, enabling specified staves to be viewed or hidden. Shadow Notes makes input of notes with a mouse easy and hassle-free, as it displays exactly where a note will appear before it is input. With Sibelius 3.0, the user can also create audio CDs and MP3s from a score using the powerful Save-as-Audio Track feature.

The Kontakt Player Silver uses top-quality instrument samples for playback quality far exceeding typical MIDI playback. Live Playback, for scores created with Flexi-Time, recreates all the nuances of an original performance, and allows for fine-tuning to perfection. Playback now incorporates every kind of repeat structure imaginable, as well as allowing individual notes and dynamics, for instance, to apply only to certain repeats.

“We found the experience of working with the Sibelius team enjoyable and stimulating,” notes Daniel Haver, CEO of Berlin-based Native Instruments. “The unique skills of each organization proved to be an ideal match, and the quality and capabilities of the Kontakt Player are a testimony to that.”

Additional enhancements to the software program include the entirely new Optical™ spacing algorithm, which allows Sibelius 3 to space notes perfectly in the most complex situations. Beaming has also been extensively improved. The Auto Page Break feature places page turns in extracted parts in convenient locations and updates them whenever a score is modified. Sibelius 3 includes no fewer than 30 new plug-ins including Scales and Arpeggios. With this plug-in, any conceivable set of scales and arpeggios can be created, allowing educators to craft exercises for their students in an instant. Also, music teachers can now switch off advanced features individually or en masse and create various sets suitable for different classes.

“Sibelius 3 is the culmination of input from our customer base combined with our experience in music notation,” adds Bill Reilly, President, Sibelius USA, Inc. “We are confident that this latest version will reinforce our position as the industry innovator and market leader.”

To date, there are over 100,000 Sibelius users worldwide, including conductor Michael Tilson-Thomas, guitarist Andy Summers, choral composer John Rutter and film composer Michael Kamen.

About Sibelius

Sibelius Software Ltd. is based in London, England. Its U.S. subsidiary, Sibelius USA, Inc., is located at 1407 Oakland Blvd., Suite 103, Walnut Creek, California, 94596 and has offices in Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas and Nashville. Sibelius products are available worldwide in more than 100 countries. For more information, contact Sibelius USA at phone (925) 280-0600; fax (925) 280-0008; on the Web at www.sibelius.com; or via e-mail at infoUSA@sibelius.com.

About Native Instruments

Native Instruments is the world's leading manufacturer of software synthesizers for personal computers and a well-known brand in the field of music and audio software. Founded in 1996, Native Instruments was one of the first companies to exploit the possibilities of real-time sound synthesis on Macintosh and Windows platforms. Currently, the company employs about 60 people and cooperates with more than 30 international distribution partners. Its headquarters are located in Berlin, Germany, with a subsidiary in Los Angeles, USA.